ICANN opens applications for new generic top-level domains for the first time since 2012

$227k gets you a hearing for your dot.vanity project, or strings in one of 27 scripts

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on Thursday kicked off a new application process for generic top-level domains (gTLDs), its first since 2012.

The domain name system as we know it came into being thanks to RFC 920, penned by internet pioneers Jon Postel and Joyce Reynolds, which suggested creating .gov, .edu, .com, .mil, and .org gTLDs.

When Postel and Reynolds wrote their RFC, the sole domain name was .arpa – reflecting the origins of the Internet at the USA’s Advanced Research Projects Agency. As use of the nascent internet grew, it became inappropriate for all users to be tied to .arpa.

Postel and Reynolds saw a need for new domains and proposed “in the future most of the top level names will be very general categories like ‘government’, ‘education’, or ‘commercial’. The motivation is to provide an organization name that is free of undesirable semantics.”

In 1985, the five gTLDs recommended by Postel and Reynolds became available, along with .net.

In the years that followed, a lot of convoluted internet governance history saw ICANN created and given responsibility for managing the DNS root zone. As the first dotcom boom raged in the early 2000s, ICANN decided the world needed more gTLDs and delivered .biz, .info, .name, and .pro.

More gTLDs followed, under a policy allowing both “unsponsored” gTLDs that ICANN felt the world needed – like .museum – and “sponsored” gTLDs like .asia that serve the needs of a particular community that feels it needs to control a .gTLD.

In 2012, ICANN allowed applications for new gTLDs to allow for domains that used non-Latin scripts, and for custom or vanity domains. That process generated over 2000 applications and saw ICANN allow more than 1,900 gTLDs.

Many corporations acquired a gTLD that included their name, or related terms such as the .java gTLD registered by Oracle. Registries also proposed, and earned, many gTLDs in the hope they would find customers who like the idea of using a particular string. Some were cynical, such as the .sucks gTLD – a magnet for brands that didn’t want a third party to register “ourcompany.sucks” and therefore bought a domain they would likely never use.

ICANN hasn’t offered new gTLDs since 2012, but on Thursday opened applications for new domains in 27 scripts.

A 439-page Applicant Guidebook explains the process. The Register suggests paying attention to the string evaluation FAQ, which explains which gTLDs are valid, and those ICANN will likely frown upon.

An FAQ describes this round of applications as giving “businesses, communities, and others the opportunity to apply for new top-level domains tailored to their community, culture, language, business, and customers.”

“A TLD can be a branding opportunity for a business, but the commercial opportunities are endless, allowing businesses in countries, entire sectors, or niche markets to develop a unique label on the Internet.”

ICANN also sees this round as a chance to “create a more multilingual Internet for the billions of people who speak and write in different languages and scripts and are yet to come online.”

If you fancy a gTLD, you’ll need to pay a $227,000 application fee by August 12th … and then wait, possibly until 2030 when this process ends.

Good luck if you decide to apply – but no squatting on .register please! ®